Not Happening
by JannaSkars
Summary: Skyler's life is just a whirlwind and things aren't getting any calmer for her. Her parents are pushing her into a relationship with a guy she barely knows and point blank dislikes. But after a serious event in her life, she starts to rethink things and being in a relationship with Alex, just may help things. If she stops being a jerk to him. Alexander Skarsgard / Eric Northman
1. Upside Down

Skyler sat in a lawn chair again the side fence of her parent's backyard watching the party taking place there. The nineteen year old sighed, slouching down in the chair a bit, popping her headphones in and rested her head back against the fence. A couple of moments later, her brother came over to her and pulled out one of Skyler's headphones. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"He's here." Her brother told her and walked off.

"Great." Skyler groaned, putting her headphone back in and turned her head to the sliding glass doors from the house leading to the backyard.

The glass door slid open and her mother stepped out, then her father and finally, him. The twenty-three year old guy that her parents and his parents arranged a relationship for and in their hopes, a marriage. He was cute, she'd give him that. But she didn't like him and wasn't by a long shot marrying him. Skyler groaned again as her mother looked her way and waved for her attention. She tugged the headphone back out of her ear.

"Skyler, come say hello to Alex." her mother called to her as Skyler's twin brother sat next to her.

Skyler snorted, looking to her brother with a smirk. "Is she crazy?" she laughed. "I wouldn't say hello to him with two cans, a sting and the universe between us." Skyler and Nick roared with laughter.

Their laughter died down and Skyler could see from the corner of her eyes, her mother's disappointment and Alex's discomfort. Shrugging it off, she went on talking with Nick about more relevant things to her than the behemoth grabbing a drink from the cooler.

The rest of the party seemed to go off without a hitch. Until Nick's ex-girlfriend showed up and started a whole uproar. Skyler followed Nick to his car and got into the passenger seat as he started the car. She tried to get Nick to talk to her, but he wasn't having any of it and since she wouldn't get out of the car, he peeled out of the driveway and out of their neighborhood.

"Nick, just chill." Skyler told him, as he sped down a residential street.

"Fuck that, Skyler!" Nick barked. "That bitch has done nothing, but made my life a living hell. Telling all the girls I hang out with that I have these fucking STDs when I fucking don't. I was a day away from scoring with Addison Frosberg, but Mona told her I had the clap and now Addison won't even answer my calls." He ranted, pressing his foot down on the gas more as his anger boiled.

"Well, I don't know what do say to that." Skyler answered. "But slow the hell down."

Nick looked at Skyler and growled at her. "Make me!"

Skyler's eyes flared, "Nick!" she yelled.

"What?!" Nick yelled back.

"Car!" Skyler screamed.

Nick's head whipped back forward the road as the back end of the stopped car came closer. He slammed on the breaks, but it was too late. They slammed into the back of the car, launched forward, spun in midair and crashed back down to the road upside down on the roof of the car they were in.

-

There was an intense beeping throbbing against Skyler's aching skull. She moaned and tried to raise one of her arms, but it felt like it was tangled up in a bunch of ropes. There was a scooting sound to her left and a gentle hand rested on her shoulder.

"Relax." a voice spoke to her. "It's okay."

Skyler took a deep breath and slowly opened her eyes. The room was dark except for some circular guiding lights in the ceiling and it smelled over clean. The beeping sound hadn't let up, but it didn't seem so loud anymore. She looked down at what had her arms and realized they were IV ports and a heart monitor around her finger. She turned her attention to who spoke to her. The face she saw was the one she never wanted to see, ever.

"Alex." she whispered, her voice weak from non use.

"Hey." He smiled, softly.

"What are you doing here?" she asked closing her eyes, suddenly very tired.

"Making sure you're okay, duh." He answered, smiling a little.

"Cause of them." Skyler replied rolling her eyes behind her closed lids, referring to their parents.

"No, because I care about you." Alex answered, hurt.

"Whatever." Skyler sighed. "How long have I been here?" she asked.

"A week." Alex replied, pulling the chair he was sitting in closer to her bedside and taking a seat. "You have pretty bad wounds and some internal trauma. But surprisingly nothing as life threatening as should be with the crash you were in." he explained.

"Wow, look at you using big words." Skyler smirked. "How many times did you have to read the chart to remember that?"

"Ha-ha." Alex retorted.

Skyler opened her eyes and looked at him. "Where's Nick?" she asked.

Alex hesitated, "Um," he licked his lips and shifted his eyes away from hers.

"Alex, where is my brother?" Skyler snapped, panic rising in her burning chest.

"I'm..." He hesitated again. "He's is in the ICU."

"But, he's alright?" Skyler demanded. Alex looked back at her, pain and sorrow in his eyes. "For fuck sake, Alexander. He is still breathing?" her body started to tremble. "Right?"

"Not on his own." Alex answered.

Skyler swallowed and closed her eye as tears threatened to come. Alex leaned forward and took her hand in his, rubbing his thumb gently over the top.

"He has some brain activity that the doctors have some hope for. But there isn't really anything they can do. They just have to wait and see if he gets worse or better." He told her everything he knew about Nick's condition. Skyler stayed quiet, processing all the events that been laid on her. As she processed them, she unconsciously played with Alex's fingers, making him smile. "You could have been the same, but intelligently, you were wearing your seat belt and he wasn't."

She squeezed her eyes tighter shut, as the threatening tears stung more.

"I want to take you home with me." Alex blurted out.

Skyler opened her eye and looked at him like he was the most nutty motherfucker since Aristotle. "You wanna what?" she snapped, pulling her hand from his.

"It's going to take you a bit to heal up and you'll need someone to help you and stuff, I want to do that." Alex told her, seriously.

Skyler stared at Alex, her expression soft, her eyes holding a small amount of awe that he wanted to take care of her. But as that sunk in, doubt and speculation grew and she narrowed her eyes at him. "Yeah, and what do you want out of it?"

"I..." Alex looked taken back and lost. "I don't want anything out of it. I just want to take care of you."

"Yeah, you wanna take care of me." She snapped. "My ass, you do. No one, especially a guy, wants to take care of a girl, just cause he wants to. It's not like you're on some good deed doing trip to get your points in with my parents. You've already got them by the horns." she belittled him. "and driving them very well, might I add."

"I don't give a fuck about impressing your parents, Skyler. You're my concern." Alex replied, offended and pissed off.

"You're concern?" Skyler repeated. "You don't know shit about me, Skarsgård." she snapped, angered herself. "All you know is that our parents want to stick us together and for what?" she smiled amused. "Can't pick up a girl on your own?"

"I can too." Alex barked.

"Then why the hell did you agree to marrying a girl you don't even know?"

"I know more about you than you think." Alex replied leaning back in his chair.

"Really?" Skyler answered, skeptical. "Enlighten me, Gandhi."

Alex smirked, crossing his arms over his chest. "You skipped the tenth grade and graduated at sixteen with more credits than your high school has seen in it's forty years of being opened. You've broke several bones, namely your right knee and ankle snowboarding. Your favorite colors and black, blue, green and red. You're in love with Avenged Sevenfold and their song 'So Far Away' makes you cry every time you hear it. You like whales, but worship Polar bears, despite being afraid of them at first. You write with your right hand, but draw with your left." he smiled fully. "And my personal favorite, you're really five foot four, but you tell everyone you're five foot five, so you don't seem as short as you really are."

"The other stuff I can see, but how the hell did you know how tall I really am?" she asked.

Alex chuckled, "Cause I know." he replied.

"Okay, Captain trivia...

"Stop calling me names." Alex said softly.

"Get over it, you walking caveman." She answered. "Tell me where my tattoo is."

"You don't have a tattoo." Alex frowned.

"Wrong, I do." Skyler smirked, having the upper hand. "So, tell me where it is."

"If I didn't know you had one, what makes you think I know where the hell it is?" Alex asked, slightly deflated.

"Because of what it tells me." Skyler answered.

"What's it tell you?"

"That everything you just listed about me, was told to you by my parents. My parents can't tell you a small detail like that if they don't know it and they're the only people I know, that don't know I have one." She smirked, triumphant.

"So, where is it?" Alex asked.

Skyler smiled and giggled, running her tongue along the inside of her bottom lip. "Don't worry about it." She turned her head to the door as a nurse walked in.

"Oh, you're awake." The nurse said, sounding a surprised.

Skyler nodded at her. "I am."

"Well, how are you feeling?" The nurse asked, checking a few of the machines, then sliding a pressure cup over Skyler's arm.

"Like I got beat up by a bull." Skyler answered, crunching her face as the cup tightened up around her arm.

"To be expected." The nurse answered, writing down the number of the test on Skyler's chart. "I can bring you something for the pain, if you like."

"Please." Skyler nodded.

"Alright, I'll bring you something for the pain and let your doctor know you're awake." The nurse said, turning and walking out.

"Thank you." Skyler said, rubbing her arm where the cup was.

"You okay?" Alex asked watching her.

"I was just in a car accident, what do you think?" Skyler countered.

"That you're being a bitch." Alex answered, stone faced.

Skyler smiled at him sarcastically, "Thank you so much, Mr. _I wear black granny panties_."

Alex growled and got up, "I'm going to go get some coffee." he asked and walked out.

Skyler's sarcasm fell away and she frowned down at her hands, picking at the medical tape holding down the tube of one of her IVs. "I'm sorry, Alex." she whispered, feeling bad for the way she treated him. It wasn't his fault she felt this way. She was just overwhelmed by the accident, normal nineteen year old things and the blindsided of her parents roping her in a relationship with a guy she barely even knew.

She sighed dropping her head back and staring at the ceiling. "Fuck my life."


	2. Drinks Up

Skyler was able to walk out of the hospital a few days later and after a lengthy argument with her parents, she had convinced them not to make her go home with Alex. Instead, she had settled with allowing Alex to come to her apartment in the Slussen area of Södermalm. She was begrudged about the arrangement, but she saw the upside of at least being in her own place with the other Swede.

"Well, this is my place." Skyler said, opening her front door and walking in.

"Wow." Alex remarked walking in.

Her apartment was huge and beautiful. The walls were a lite tan with white counter edge molding, hardwood floors of Brazilian Cherry wood, the walls decorated in modern and punk rock painting, posters and personal framed photos and one of the walls of the apartment was ceiling to floor windows that showed off a beautiful view of the Slussning pågår.

"How do you afford this place?" Alex asked, setting his duffel bag down in front of the coffee table and standing in front of the wall height windows.

"I give the landlord a lap dance at the first of every month and he waves my rent." Skyler deadpanned, going into the fridge and grabbing a Fruktsoda.

Alex looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

Skyler frowned at him and narrowed her eyes, "My family owns the building, I get a discount on rent and my parents take what I do pay in rent out of the paycheck I get for working in the family company." she explained handing him a soda.

Alex nodded and took the soda from her. They stood in the kitchen, drinking their lemon-lime sodas in silence. Skyler downed the rest of hers and tossed in the waste basket under the sink and went into the living room. Standing at the entertainment center she skipped over CDs in her 5 CD disc player. Finding the CD she wanted, she turned up the volume a bit and hit play. _Second Heartbeat_ from Avenged Sevenfold started playing and thumping through the apartment. Skyler closed her eye and nodded her head to the lyrics for a moment, then opened her eyes and looked to Alex, who was watching her. She motioned with her head for him to follow her. Alex set his soda on the counter and followed her out of the living room, down a short hallway and into a nice sized bedroom.

"You can crash here." Skyler told him. "The bathroom is that way," she pointed to the door across from the bedroom. "And if you leave the seat up once and you'll be peeing outside." she told him and went back to the living room.

"Thanks." Alex said softly as she walked away.

He went out to the living room, grabbed his bag and took it back to the room he'd be staying in. He took out all his clothing and put his socks, shorts, tank-tops and underwear in the dressers and hung up his shirts and pants in the closet. He walked over to the single window, pulled up the blinds and opened it, taking in a deep breath of fresh cool air. Alex jerked his head out from the window, banging his head, hearing a crash from the living room and Skyler cuss. He hurried into the living room as Skyler was turning to sit on the couch.

"What happened?" he asked, coming to stand at the end of the couch. "You alright?"

"I just tripped. I'm fine, Mother Goose." she answered, rubbing her knee.

Alex sat next to her, "Why do you find it necessary to call me every name you can come up with?" he asked, moving her hand away from her knee and messaging it himself.

"Because I find it extraordinarily amusing." She answered.

Alex raised his eyebrows, making it clear that he didn't find it as amusing as she did. Skyler smirked, not fazed by his non-amusement. Another awkward silent moment, before Alex leaned closer to her, their shoulders touching. Skyler turned her head and as she faced him, their lips met. Alex smiled, when he realized she hadn't pulled away, but his triumph and happiness was short lived with a blow to his family jewels. He frowned, squeezing his eyes shut and groaning. Skyler stood up and look back him.

"Nice try, Sergeant smooth." She smiled and walked away to her bedroom.

-

Alex walked up to Skyler's bedroom door and paused, listening for her inside. She'd been in there for three hours and he hadn't heard or seen from her in that time. He'd became worried about her. So, raising his hand, Alex softly rapped on her door and waited for her to answer, but she didn't. Aiming up his courage, he gripped the door knob and slowly turned it. Opening the door a crack, he peeked in and saw her sitting on her bed, headphones in, knees pulled up a bit and what Alex assumed was a journal resting on them as she wrote in it. He watched her for a moment, before closing the door and going into his room.

Dropping down on the queen size bed in his room, his hands resting on his knees as he looked around the white room. He sighed, laying back and staring up at the ceiling. He just started to drift off, when there was a knock at his open door, he picked up his head and looked at Skyler.

"What's up?" he asked, sitting up on his elbows.

"I feel bad for going below the belt like I did." Skyler said, pressing her lips together in a guilty frown. "I was thinking maybe we could go get something to eat for dinner." She rolled her eyes and lulling her head to the side and looking to the door frame. "Maybe even talk over it, civilly. I promise not to call you any names, other than your own, too."

Alex smiled, "I'd like that."

"Cool." Skyler nodded. "I'm gunna go change."

"You mind if I take a shower first?" he asked getting up.

"Knock yourself out." she threw over her shoulder, closing her bedroom door.

Alex grabbed some fresh clothing and went into the bathroom. When he finished showering, put on a bit of cologne and went out to the living room, he found Skyler sitting on the couch in a pair of dark blue skinny jeans and a light gray tee. She turned back hearing him come out of the bathroom and stood.

"You ready?" she asked, grabbing her cell phone and keys off the coffee table.

"Yeah." Alex nodded, mindlessly fussing over his shirt.

"Cool, let's rock and roll." she said, heading for the front door. "You in the mood for anything specific?" she asked, locking her door and following Alex down the stairs.

"I don't know. What kind of places are there around here to eat at?"

"Fusion, seafood, traditional, Italian and French, I think." Skyler answered, pushing open the door leading out of her building and into the street.

"Traditional sounds good." Alex replied.

"Alright, traditional food it is." Skyler said, going left down the street.

-

The waiter seated them at a window booth, handed them their menus and took their drink orders, before going off to the kitchen to get their drinks. Skyler set her menu by the end of the table for the waiter, rested back and stared out the window at the darkening sky.

"You know what you want?" Alex asked, setting his menu on top of hers.

"Yeah." Skyler nodded, still looking outside. "I'm going to get Kalops with Elk meat."

Alex nodded, "Sound good."

"What are you getting?" She asked, looking over at him.

"Moose stew." Alex answered, resting his elbows on the table. "So, tell me something." he said, a mischievous little smirk on his face.

"I'll try." Skyler replied, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Why don't you like me?" He asked point blank.

Skyler slowly rose an eyebrow at the blond. She was about to open her mouth, when their waiter came over with their drinks and placed them on a napkin in front of them.

"Can I get you anything else?" he asked, looking at the two.

"No." They said in unison. Alex smirked realizing it and Skyler rolled her eyes.

"Alright, are you ready to order?" The waiter asked, pulling out his order pad and a pencil. Alex motioned for Skyler to order first.

"I love Kalops with Elk meat, please." Skyler ordered.

"Okay." The waiter nodded and looked to Alex. "And you, sir."

"I'll have the Moose stew." Alex told him.

The waiter nodded again, putting his pad and pencil back in his apron. "Alright, they'll be up in a bit." He smiled at them sweetly, then shuttled off.

Skyler took a sip of her drink, sighing softly. Alex looked at the blue concoction in her glass with a lifted eyebrow.

"What the hell is that, Skyler?" he asked.

"It's call a _Swedish Polar Bear_." Skyler answered, setting her drink back on it's napkin. "It's vodka, blue curacao and sprite."

"Sounds girly." Alex retorted, scrunching his face dramatically.

Skyler rolled her eyes at him, "Whatever."

"Seriously, it looks like you juiced a smurf into a glass." he commented, then started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Skyler snapped, seriously on the verge of calling him something, though mentally she'd admit it was pretty funny and true that her drink looked like a juiced smurf.

"Which smurf did you juice?" He managed to say through his laughter.

Skyler looked at him smugly, picking up her glass and taking another sip. Alex stopped laughing and wiped his eyes. He looked at her, a little confused.

"It's a joke, Sky." he said, feeling that she didn't get it.

"Oh, I know." Skyler nodded. "But I promised to be nice to you."

Alex pulled back a little bit, looking her in the eyes, then smiled. "Touche." Skyler smiled back at him.

By the time their food came, they were deep into conversation about the season their favorite football team was having and their opinion on why they were so bad at winning a match. Their conversation continued over and after they finished eating. Alex finally threw his hands up and gave in to Skyler.

"Okay, okay." He called, defeated. "Billy is way better than Max with procuring a good goal shot. But Max is better at stealing away the ball from the other team."

"I give him that and that's all I'll give him." Skyler answered, downing her last shot of Vodka.

Alex looked at his watch and sighed, "It's almost midnight." he said, leaning to the side and pulling out his wallet from his back pocket. "We should get going, before you get any more drunk." he said, looking at the bill the waiter left them more than an hour ago. Reading the amount due and pulling out the right amount and a tip, Alex slid out of the booth, shoving his wallet back into his pocket and grabbing Skyler by the upper arm gently.

"Come on." He said, helping her out of the booth. "Time to go home."

"Don't rush me." Skyler snapped standing and steadying herself. "Geez."

Alex chuckled lightly, turning her to face towards the door. "And walk." he said, giving her a gentle start.

"Why do I have to walk in front of you?" She asked, carefully making her way to the door.

"So, I can watch you not kill yourself." Alex answered, pulling open the door for her.

"This isn't my first time drunk, _sir_." Skyler told him, wobbling a moment, then walking out of the restaurant.

"I'm sure of it." Alex smiled, watching her walk in front of him, back to her apartment.

She walked straight for three or four seconds before veering to one side and the other. He grabbed the back of her jacket and straighten her back up until she did it all over again. All the while, Alex found it incredibly amusing for a reason he couldn't quite place. When they got to her apartment building, he had to enter the front door code that let them in the building for her, before she did it wrong to many times and alerted building security. Then she walked behind him going up the stairs, holding on to one of his hands to tow her up them. On the third to last staircase up, she paused on the middle step and Alex looked back at her.

"What?" He asked, watching her blink several times, like she was trying to clear her vision.

"I-I...have to-to puke." She said slowly, licking her semi dry lips.

"Well, after two Swedish Polar Bears, a Black Swedish Virgin, six shots of Vodka and the rest of my glass of white wine, would do that to you." Alex said.

Skyler looked up at Alex, focusing her eyes to his. "I'm serious, Alex. I've gotta puke, like now." she told him, gulping down the irritating urge to puke right there all over Alex's nice shoes and the stairwell. Nodding, Alex turned all the way around to face her and picked her up over his shoulder, laughing softly as she groaned.

"Oh, you're an idiot." she moaned as her body weight pressed her churning stomach into Alex's strong and broad shoulder.

"You said, you weren't going to call me names." Alex said, hurrying up the stairs.

"Over dinner." Skyler corrected him, biting her lip to stop the influx of puke. "Though we may soon reenact it, very soon."

"Shit." Alex cursed, going faster. "Please, don't puke on me." he begged, almost nauseous at the thought of being covered in puke.

"I'm trying. But it ain't easy, ya know." She answered, clamping her hand over her mouth.

Alex reached the top of the last staircase and rounded the banister and making it to her door, he set her down, letting her rest against the wall by her door, he held out his hand for the keys. Skyler fished them out with her free hand and dropped them into his hand. Alex flipped through the key ring, found the right key and unlocked the door.

"Go, Go!" Alex yelled, pushing open the door.

Skyler busted into her apartment like she was going to raid it, rushed into her bathroom, threw open the toilet lid and before she dropped down onto her knees, puked into the bowl. Alex came in seconds later, squatting behind her and rubbing her back.

With the puking all out of her system, Alex stood up grabbing a tissue out of the box that sat on the sink and handed it to her. When she took it, wiping her mouth, Alex poured a cap full of peppermint mouthwash and set it on the edge of the sink closest to Skyler. Skyler tossed the used tissue into the trash and flushed to toilet. They both looked out of the bathroom as a knock came from the front door. Alex looked at Skyler, who shrugged and tossed the cap full of mouthwash into her mouth and started swishing.

Leaving the bathroom, Alex answered the front door. Pulling it open, he was met with a middle aged woman, who looked deeply concerned. "Can I help you?" Alex asked looking at the woman.

"Oh, I'm Skyler's neighbor from across the way." The woman answered. "I heard a commotion and wanted to make sure she's alright."

"Yeah, she's fine." Alex smiled. "She just drank too much at dinner." he told her.

The woman smiled back and nodded. "Okay. Well, tell her I said hello." she said, then turned and went back into her own apartment.

"I will." Alex replied and closed the door.

"Who was that?" Skyler asked coming into the living room, wiping her face from the cool water she splashed on her flushed face.

"The woman that lives across from you." Alex answered, locking the door for the night.

"Ugh." Skyler groaned, rolling her eyes. "That woman drives me insane. She's always in my business. I had a meeting here a year ago, cause I was sick, but I couldn't reschedule and she thought the guys I had here for the meeting where here to evict everyone, I opened the door and she all but fell on the floor with her ear pressed to my door and then she had the whole building in a uproar over thinking they were getting kicked out."

"What was the meeting for?" Alex asked.

"They were members of the company that paints the building. We were having the place repainted cause it had been at least seven years since the last time it was." Skyler replied. "The woman makes me want to jump off my balcony." she ranted, going into her bedroom to get into her pajamas.

-

Alex stopped to stand in front of Skyler's open door, in nothing but a pair of loose fitting pajama bottoms. Skyler turned around as she finished pulling on her tank top, she raised an eyebrow at him and he returned the gesture.

"I enjoyed tonight, Skyler." He said, quietly. "Even watching you puke." he smiled.

"I bet you did." Skyler remarked. "But, so did I." she admitted.

Alex nodded, "Well, good night." he said turning to go into his room.

"Good night." Skyler called back, watching him go. Her heart floundered a moment, but she pushed it aside and turned off her bedroom light and crawled into bed.


	3. Age of Our Relationship

Alex rolled out of bed, yawning and stretching as he stood up, fixing his disheveled hair. Yawning again, he made his way out of his bedroom and into the bathroom. He noted that Skyler's door was closed, so he figured she was still asleep. Relieving himself, showering and brushing his teeth, Alex left the bathroom, a towel wrapped securely around his waist and went back into his room to get dressed for the day. When he walked into the living room, he saw Skyler sitting in a chair on the balcony holding a coffee cup. He smiled lightly and went out there.

"Morning, Skyler." He greeted her.

"Hey." She answered, sipping whatever it was that was in her cup. "Sleep well?" she asked, setting the cup on the little table next to her.

"Yeah, how about you?" he asked, taking a seat in the other chair on the balcony.

"Eh." Skyler shrugged.

Alex smiled at her, "Hangover?"

"Pounding headache mostly." Skyler answered, picking up her cup again.

"Is that coffee?" Alex asked.

"No, It's something for hangovers." Skyler said, holding the cup out to him to see. "There's coffee in the pot on the counter and there are cups in the cabinet above it." she told him.

"Sweet." Alex nodded, getting up. "Thanks." he smiled, going back inside for a cup of coffee.

"Yeah." Skyler nodded back. Bring her cup to her lips, she paused, put her cup on the table and jumped up. "Shit. Alex!" she yelled running inside and sliding to a stop in the kitchen as Alex took a mouthful of coffee in his mouth. "Spit it out!" she yelled at him, fanatically.

Alex's face twisted as the cold coffee filled his mouth. Turning, he spit it out into the sink, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "What the hell, Skyler!?" he snapped, turning back to the wide eyed girl.

"I forgot!" she snapped back. "I'm so sorry, Alex. I totally forgot that was the coffee Gunnar tainted the last time he was here."

"What do you mean _tainted_." Alex asked. "Did he pee in it?"

"No, he put eye drops in it." She told him, biting her lip to fight back a smile.

"Your brother put Visine in the coffee?"

"Yeah, you put in the right amount, you give the person that drinks it diarrhea." Skyler explained.

"That's just mean." Alex frowned.

"Well, Nick did put laxatives in Gunnar's hot chocolate last Christmas." Skyler shrugged. "Any who. How about Starbucks?" she suggested perking up.

"Why not." Alex replied. "Just let me rinse my mouth out." he said going out of the kitchen, down the hall and into the bathroom.

"Don't swallow!" Skyler called out after him laughing.

"You're so funny." Alex said, when he came back.

"I know." Skyler smiled. "So, let's go, big foot. Coffee is calling!" she said marching to the door.

"My feet are not that big." Alex remarked.

"Compared to mine, you could rent yours out as flippers to scuba-divers." Skyler giggled.

"You little brat." Alex smirked.

Skyler stopped and turned around, looking up at Alex, who stood four steps up from her. "What did you call me, you over grown sea monster." she asked, her voice sounding seriously offended, but a smile wavered on her lips and her green eyes sparkled mischievously.

"I called you a brat, baby shrimp." Alex answered, standing his ground.

"Oh hell no." Skyler snapped, going up a step. "Call me a baby shrimp again and I will be the David to your Goliath."

"You can take me down any day, sweetheart." Alex smiled and winked at her.

Skyler rolled her eyes, turning back down the stairs. "You're so fucking indefatigable."

"Thank you." Alex laughed, following after her.

-

"Stop touching it and it won't hurt." Alex said, grabbing Skyler's wrist and pulling her hand away from her face, so she'd stop touching her black eye.

"It hurting is why I started touching it to start with." Skyler remarked, drinking down the last of her iced coffee.

"Well, that's what you get for making straining facial expression at me, when you thought I wasn't looking." He answered, a look of smug triumph on his face.

"I was only trying to match your normal face." She countered, swiping his coffee from him and taking a gulp.

Alex pressed his lips together watching her and took his coffee back as she held it out to him. "You leave me any." he asked, shaking the cup.

"Ye-"

"Skyler!" A female voice squealed, excited.

Before Skyler could turn her head to see who it was that called her name, someone attached themselves to her, squeezing her tight and making her groan as several of her bruises were pressed on. The person pulled away and Skyler looked up at them, frowning.

"Fallon?"

"Yeah," the girl nodded. "From preforming arts school." she smiled.

"I remember." Skyler answered in a half sneer. "How are you doing?" she asked, not really caring.

"Great, I'm doing great. Leaving for New York in a few days to start working on a Broadway show." Fallon beamed proudly. Fallon's expression froze as she caught sight of Skyler's healing black eye. Her eyes washed over Skyler and noted the other wounds on her and her mind jumped to the conclusion that the marks were done by the guy sitting at the table with Skyler. She had heard their little disagreement and saw him pulling Skyler's hand away from her face. Fallon looked Skyler in the eyes and switched their conversation into her native language of Finnish.

"Did he do that to you, Skyler?" She asked. "That isn't right, you're better than that." she lectured her.

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Skyler replied back in Finnish.

"Your injuries." Fallon answered, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"He didn't do this to me, I was in a car accident with Nick." Skyler told her, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Fallon blushed.

"Yeah, well, we have to go. Long day ahead." Skyler said, getting up.

"Okay, It was good seeing you again." she said, hugging Skyler gently and letting her and Alex pass by.

"What was that?" Alex asked, holding the shop door open for her.

"That's the chick that gave me hell in preforming arts school and I'm guessing my ritual didn't work." Skyler answered, zipping her coat up as they walked down the street back towards her apartment.

"What ritual?" Alex asked, cramming his hands into his pockets.

"The ritual were I wish she'd die or disappear into a oblivion." she growled.

Alex nodded understanding, "And that bit where you two switched languages on me?"

"She asked if you were the reason I was all banged up."

"She thinks I hurt you?" Alex asked, his voice tight with anger at the notion.

"Oh, forget it." Skyler said, hooking her arm with his and leaning her shoulder against his. "She's a fucking airhead any way."

Alex smiled, blushing a bit as she rested against him while they walked down the crowded street. As they stood at the corner waiting for the light to change, Alex looked down at Skyler as she texted on her cell phone. He bit his bottom lip once, then carefully pressed a kiss to Skyler's temple. Skyler looked up from her text, frowned at him and went back to what she was doing. Alex felt a stable sense of satisfaction and accomplishment by getting to kiss her and not have his face ripped off for it. Smiling, he did it again.

"Don't pushing, Alexander." Skyler warned, putting her phone away and starting across the street.

"Got it." Alex replied, still smiling.

-

Alex stood staring out the balcony windows, deep in his own thought, not hearing Skyler calling him.

"Alex." She called. "Alexander. Yo, earth to Alex!" she yelled, waving her arms in the air above her head.

Alex snapped out of his thoughts and turned his head towards her. "Yeah?"

"Well, you missed it, Captain far away. But your phone was ringing." she told him, holding out his phone to him that she caught from falling off the table from its vibrating.

"Thanks." Alex replied, moving to grab his phone.

"Yep." Skyler nodded. "I'm gunna go take a nap. My head is still pounding." she let him know.

"Alright." Alex nodded, checking his missed call. "You want me to wake you for dinner, if you're not up by then." he asked.

"Yeah, would you." Skyler agreed.

"I will." Alex smiled up at her.

"Thanks." Skyler said, turning to go to her room.

"No problem and sleep well." He called, pressing his phone to his ear as it rang.

-

Walking into Skyler's apartment half past nine, Alex was surprised to see Skyler sitting on her couch, seeing she only would have been napping for a few hours. As he closed the door, he heard her sniffle. Turning to look at her properly, Alex saw her eyes were red and watery, he went as sat next to her.

"Skyler, what happened?" he asked, very worried.

Skyler swallowed and sniffled again, "My-my mom c-called."

Alex's stomach knotted up. "What about?"

"Nick." She took a deep breath, fighting a new wave of tears. "He's lost all brain activity." Skyler looked down from Alex, biting her lip. "The doctors say there isn't a real chance now for him to come back, but my parents won't take him off support, because of that slim chance that he would come back against the odds." A quiet tear trickled down her cheek.

Alex reached out, cupping her wet cheek in his hand and using his thumb to wipe away stray tears. "It's going to okay." he told her, though he knew he couldn't promise her that. He just didn't know what else to tell her.

Skyler drew in her bottom lip and bit it, trying to calm herself and tilted her head slightly into Alex's hand for comfort. Catching it, Alex moved his hand from her cheek and pulled her against himself and hugged her. Skyler buried her face into his shoulder, her arms sliding around Alex's chest and her hands grabbing the back of his long sleeve shirt. Alex twisted so he could rest against the back couch cushions comfortably and still hold Skyler just as comfortable. He rubbed her back, turning his nose to her natural platinum blonde hair, smiling at the sweet scent of her shampoo. Alex wrapped a strand of her hair that was dye a periwinkle blue underneath her hair around his finger.

"What made you dye the underneath of your hair this shade of blue, Skyler?" he asked, looking to try and pull her mind away from her brother.

She shrugged, moving her head, so her cheek laid on his collarbone. "Boredom. I had it a grassy green color a month ago. But I got tired of it and dyed it to this color." She moved one of her hands from Alex's back and made lazy patterns on his chest. "Thinking of changing it again."

"Oh yeah?" Alex answered, looking at her. "What color?"

"I don't know." Skyler replied, shrugging again. "I haven't really thought about it."

"What about a pink?" he smiled, looking down at her.

"Pink." She repeated looking up at him with a raised eyebrow. "What shade of pink?"

"I don't know." Alex chuckled. "A light pink. Nothing to stand out-ish."

"So, like a soft rosy pink."

Alex thought on it a moment and nodded, "Yeah, that look cool."

"Alright," Skyler agreed. "Pink, it is."

Alex smiled at her softly, brush her bangs to one side of her forehead. Skyler pursed her lips and sat up, she looked Alex square in the eyes, then gently pressed her lips to his. Alex reacted almost instantly, cupping her face in his hands and pressing his lips firmer to hers. Skyler moaned, wrapping her arms around Alex's neck, holding him tighter. Shifting his body, so Skyler sat astride his lap. He moved his hands into her hair. Skyler stopped and pulled back from Alex. They exchanged silent looks and Alex understood that their sudden moment of heated passion wasn't planned at the right moment with everything going on with Nick. He nodded, kissing her one more time and let her snuggle back against him.

-

Looking away from the tv and down at Skyler, Alex smiled seeing her asleep. Moving her carefully out of his lap, he turned the tv off, locked the front door and got himself ready for bed, then went back to Skyler. Leaning over her, He kissed her temple and rubbed her arm. Skyler took a breath in and shifted, opening her eyes and looking at Alex, who smiled at her.

"Bed." he said simply.

Skyler nodded, rubbing her eyes and getting up off the couch. She fixed her hair as she went back to the bathroom to brush her teeth. Alex stood in the door way of the bathroom, his hands braced against the frame as he watched her brush. She looked at him through the mirror, pulling her toothbrush out her mouth.

"If you say anything to anyone about what we did tonight, I will kill you without mercy." she warned him, going back to brushing her teeth.

"I haven't a clue to what you're talking about." Alex answered, blank faced.

"Good." Skyler snapped, spitting into the sink and rinsing with mouthwash. "Keep it that way." she told him, cleaning out the sink and putting her toothbrush away. "It be a crime to mess up a hot body like yours."

Alex blushes bright red, "I don't think I'm that hot." he admitted to her, moving away from the door, so Skyler could go by.

"Are you serious?" she asked, stopping at her bedroom door.

"Yeah." he nodded.

"What are you blind?" she snapped at him, shocked. "Look, I'll admit that a first, I hated your ever lasting guts and now you're sorta growing on me. But the one thing I'd agree on without a shadow of hesitation, is how hot you are. You're not even hot, you're drop dead gorgeous." Alex smiled at her empathizes of _beautiful_. "I mean shit." Skyler beamed.

"What?" Alex asked, playing perfectly innocent.

Skyler bounced in place, annoyed with him. "You're so hot, you should be, not only, Sweden's top tourist attraction, but our mascot too. I mean..." she licked her lips, looking him over. "You're tall, blond, buff and sexy, every girl's dream..."

"But yours." Alex intervened.

Skyler blinked at him a few times, caught off guard. "I didn't say that."

"You said and I quote; _I hate your ever lasting guts_."

"You, not your looks and if your memory is that good, you'd remember I said that, you are growing on me."

"Then, how much more growing do you have to do to stop hating me and to be with me?" Alex asked.

"Let's say, full grown of not hating you and being with you is eighteen." Skyler explained.

"Alright." Alex nodded, putting all his weight on one leg and crossing his arms.

"So, that's eighteen. At this moment, we are at about six years old." She informed him. "Roughly, maybe a six and a half."

"I have twelve more years to go, before I can have you." Alex snapped.

Skyler smiled, pushing open her bedroom door. "Yep." she nodded. "So, get to cracking boy or you're gunna lose." she laughed.

"You're a lot more fucking hard headed and stubborn than your parents said you were!" Alex yelled going into his room.

"Of course, I am." Skyler yelled back. "I have to be less hard headed and stubborn with them, so I don't get grounded or fired."

A pair of Alex's dirty balled up socks came hurling from his bedroom and into Skyler's, hitting her in the shoulder. Skyler spun around and glared at him as he laughed. Growling, Skyler picked up his socks and hummed them back at him. Alex yelped and dodged the socks as they flow past him.

"Shit, you got a good arm." He commented.

"Five seasons of softball." Skyler replied, getting out of her pants and pulling on her Blue's Clues sleeping pajamas.

"You played Softball." Alex repeated, sitting down on the edge of his bed, pulling on a pair of clean socks. "What position?"

"First two season, I played left center field." she answered. "That's behind third plate and the last three seasons, I've played catcher. Which is my favorite position."

"Why's that?" Alex asked, walking into her bedroom, to hear her better.

"I don't know." Skyler shrugged. "I've always had a thing for walking people back."

"Walking people back?" Alex questioned.

"Yeah, mostly on third. If the runner on that base moves before they should or tries to steal home. The pitcher would throw the ball to the catcher and the catcher would stand and walk towards the runner, holding the ball, so the runner would have to go back on base or possibly get touched with the ball and get called out." Skyler explained to him.

Alex nodded understanding. "Is the new season start soon?"

"Not for another a month or so. Depends on the management of the team and weather." She answered, getting into bed.

"Cool." Alex replied, rubbing he back of his neck. "Well, good night."

Skyler nodded back in reply and Alex went back to his room. Both of them leaving their bedroom doors wide open, staring up at the ceiling, thinking the same thing, but too unsure and shy to admit it or act upon it and neither knowing or realizing that the _age_ of their relationship and feeling for one another was much older than thought to be, but soon to be seen in the coming time they spent together under the same roof.


	4. The Past Undone

A crash stirred Alex from a sound sleep. Rolling onto his side, Alex turned on the lamp sitting on the bedside table. He looked out his bedroom door and from where he was half sitting up, he could see Skyler's empty bed. Frowning, he got up out of bed to check things out.

"Skyler?" He called walking out of his room.

He stopped in the hallway that conjoined his room, Skyler's room and the bathroom. He looked at the closed door, the light coming through the bottom of it. Alex stepped closer to the door and knocked. He heard Skyler gasp surprised and what sounded like little pebbles hitting the sidewalk, when tossed into the air.

"I'm almost done." Skyler called from the other side, she sounded rushed and slow at the same time.

"Are you alright?" Alex asked, pressing his ear to the door.

"Yeah, yeah." She answered. "I'm fine, just really had to pee."

Troubled, Alex frowned deeper, not quite believing her a hundred percent. Licking his lips, he moved away from the door as she opened it. She looked up at him, her eyes looking tired and pupils the size pinpricks. Alex stared at her, perplexed by her look. Skyler growled at him, annoyed with his lock on her.

"What, Alex?" She snapped, moody.

"Is there something wrong?" Alex asked her, still not able to put his thumb on it.

Skyler groaned annoyed and pushed past Alex. "You're getting on my last fucking nerve, Alex." she fumed, slamming her bedroom door.

Alex stood there, mouth gaping and eyes wide at her sudden out burst. Just a few hours before they were being playful, kissing and being more civil with each other than they had ever been in the year's time they'd known one another. Sighing quietly and looking to floor, Alex turned and walked back into his room. Turning his light back off, he crawled back into bed and fell asleep, still very troubled.

The next morning, Alex woke before Skyler, which Alex found odd. In the almost week he'd been there, Skyler was always up before him, sometimes by more than two hours. Figuring that, she was just having an off day with the news about Nick. So, he stayed a quiet as he could, so he didn't bother her. When she did get up and come out of her room, Alex was setting at the dining table, a bowl of oatmeal in front of him and the newspaper in his hand.

"Good morning, sleepy head." he said, not looking up from the article he was reading.

"Yeah." Skyler replied, walking into the kitchen and grabbing making a bowl of cereal.

"You feel..." Alex stopped, turning his head to see Skyler going into the pocket of her pajamas, pulling out two of the painkillers the doctors gave her at the hospital, tossing them back into her mouth and downing it with milk straight from the carton. "Are those the extra strength ones?" he asked, putting down his paper.

"Yeah." Skyler nodded, grabbing her bowl of Lucky Charms and going to sit on the couch with it.

"Didn't the doctor tell you to take one as needed."

Skyler raised an eyebrow at him, "Who the hell are you, my fucking nanny? Lay off." she barked, grabbing the tv remote and turned on the tv.

"That's five hundred milligrams of Vicodin at once, Skyler." Alex snapped back.

Skyler rolled her eyes, making the talking motion with her hand has he continued to go off on her. Alex stood up from the table, grabbed his coat off of the coat stand and ripped open the door and slammed it shut after him, knocking several frames off the wall by the door. Skyler rolled her eyes again, taking a bite of cereal and turned up the volume on the tv.

-

Gunnar opened his front door, calling over his shoulder to his wife about what he wanted for dinner. He turned and smiled at Alex, who stood on his door step. The two men had known each other since they met on the set of _Kites over Helsinki_ in 2001. The only other friend Alex was closer too than Gunnar, was Bjorne. Alex smiled at Gunnar, hoping he didn't see the trouble and anger that was still boiling inside of him.

"Hey, Alex." Gunnar smiled back. "What's wrong? Is Skyler okay?"

"Nothing's wrong and Skyler is...Skyler." he answered.

Gunnar narrowed his eyes at his friend, "What happened?" he asked. "I know that look, Alex."

"I'm worried about her, Gun." Alex told him. "I got to her place after my audition last night and found her crying about Nick." A smile pulled across his lips. "I comforted her, we kissed and joked..."

"Wait, wait, wait." Gunnar stopped him. "You can't just mention kissing her and keep going like it's the color of grass. You two kissed? Like on the lips and you didn't die." Gunnar was shaking he was so shocked. "Get your ass in the house and tell me what the hell happened in detail." he told him, grabbing Alex by the sleeve and pulling him into the house.

"Alright." Alex laughed.

"Elva, I'm going to be in my office with Alex!" Gunnar yelled out, pulling Alex upstairs to his office.

"Okay!" Elva yelled back.

Gunnar let Alex into his office, closed and locked the door, then dropped into his office chair across from Alex. "Alright. The kissing."

Alex blushed, "We were sitting on the couch and I was holding her..."

"Comforting her?"

"Yes." Alex nodded. "Talked about Nick for a bit and then we were quiet. I started playing with her hair a bit..."

"What the hell is up with you and woman's hair, dude? I mean honestly, on set and in real life." Gunnar ranted.

"I just...I don't know. But, I asked her why she dyed the underneath of her hair that light blue color. She told me she was bored and was thinking of changing it. I suggested pink and we agreed on a light pink, then she sat up, looked at me and then kissed me."

Gunnar's mouth dropped open and his eyes went wide as saucers.

"Oh, and don't tell anyone or her that I told you or she'll kill me," he added. "Without mercy, were her exact words."

Gunnar recovered mostly. "Yeah, that's sounds like her. But, she kissed you?"

"Yeah. Well, I kissed her once and she hit in the nuts. Then I kissed her on the temple two other times yesterday after coffee and she just eyed me."

"I am fucking stunned." Gunnar said, leaning back in his chair. "My parents would shit themselves, if they heard that."

"I know." Alex nodded.

"Okay, so what happened between then and now?" Gunnar asked, getting down to business.

Alex shook his head, shrugging. "I don't know. We went to bed, she woke me accidentally in the middle of the night and went off on me and I went off on her this morning, which is why I'm here."

"She went off on you?" Gunnar frowned.

"Yeah."

"How? Why?"

"I heard what sounded like a crash, at first I thought it was someone breaking in. But when I went out of my room, I noticed a light on under the bathroom door and I knocked, asking if she was alright. Heard something, you know that sound rice makes when you throw it up in the air and it hits the ground?"

"Yeah." Gunnar nodded.

"Sounded like that. She told me she'd be right out and when she did come out, she went off on me for looking at her and went into her room, slamming the door." he finished explaining.

"And when you went off on her this morning."

"She took two of the painkillers the ER doctor gave her, at the same time."

"Great, just fucking great." Gunnar groaned, rubbing his eyes.

"What?" Alex asked.

"Skyler use to have a drug problem. Painkillers are her drug of choice. She got clean after our parents sent her to treatment." he told him. "Three years clean and that funny sound you heard last night was her dropping them, when you startled her by knocking on the door. She's using again because of Nick's condition."

Alex sighed, his shoulders slumping as disappointment set into him. "What are you going to do?" he asked, meeting Gunnar's eyes.

Gunnar sighed just as hard. "I don't know. I really don't."

-

Skyler sat cross legged on the couch sketching, when she heard the key slid into the deadbolt. Sighing, she went back to drawing. Alex entered the apartment quietly, shrugged off his coat and hung it up, then went into the kitchen to grab a soda. He stood in the little dining room, staring at Skyler as she continued to draw.

"Have you had lunch yet?" he asked, leaning back against the dining table. His breakfast had been taken into the kitchen and his paper was still there, but folded properly.

Skyler finished a bit of shading and set her pencil down, looking up at him. "No." she replied. Her expression seemed tired and lazy to Alex, a look Gunnar had told him to expect with the effect of the painkillers.

Alex nodded, "You wanna go out and get something to eat?" he asked, walking back into the kitchen and tossing his empty soda bottle in the waste basket.

"Not really." She answered, going back to drawing. "I'm not hungry."

Alex dropped his head back, clenching his hands into fists, annoyed. Composing himself, he went out to the living room and sat next to her. "What are you drawing?" he asked, leaning to look at her sketch pad, but Skyler flipped it closed before he could.

"Nothing. Just drawing random shapes." She said, setting her pad on the coffee table. "Where'd you go?" she asked.

"Had an audition." he lied.

"Fun."

Alex chewed on his bottom lip, feeling their relationship slipping back to what it was when they first met and it was eating him alive. But he wasn't going to let it blow up, he didn't care what he had to do. He was going to get this girl, if it took the last breath in his body.

"Come on," he smiled, nudging her. "Come have lunch with me."

"No." she snapped, frowning at him.

Alex pouted, turning on his puppy dog eyes. "Please." he said softly.

"Oh my god, really?" Skyler rolled her eyes, blushing.

Alex pouted more.

"Oh Jesus, fine!" She gave up, throwing her hands up in the air. "I'll go out to eat with you. Shit." Skyler stood up and walked around the couch.

"Where you going, then?" Alex asked, watching her.

"To pee." She answered, stopping seeing the expression on his face. "What, you wanna watch me pee?" she teased, smirking.

"No." Alex smiled back.

Skyler laughed and went into the bathroom. Finishing up in the bathroom, Skyler and Alex went out for lunch.

"Skyler, I wanna talk to you about something." Alex said, setting his fork down.

"Okay." Skyler nodded, taking a sip of her water. "What about?"

"How you're taking your pain medication."

Skyler paused, setting her glass down slowly as she eyed Alex across the table. "What about it?" she asked, her voice barely holding control.

"I know you're abusing it because you want to numb the pain of the accident and possibly loosing Nick. But there are better ways to do that, I can help..."

"You can help?" Skyler snapped, loosing control of her temper. "How? You going to build a time machine and go back to that day and fix it? You going to bring Nick back?" She mocked him. "You can't help any of that and you can't help me." she sneered.

"Yes, I can." Alex told her, sadness and desperation in his face and voice.

"No, you can't. Because I don't want it!" She snapped, getting up.

Alex stood up with her, vaguely aware of the people staring at them. "Please, Skyler. I know you're upset about..."

"Shut up!" Skyler screamed. "I fucking hate you. I hated you when we met and I still hate you. Nothing will change that. So, stop trying to make me and stop trying to help me." Tears filled her eyes as she told him off.

"Skyler!" Alex called out to her as she spun around and ran out of the restaurant.

Pulling out his wallet, Alex dropped money onto the table and ran out of the restaurant after her. They ran down the street, around the building and back to Skyler's apartment building. Alex got to her as she started to push in the security code. He wrapped an arm around her waist and picked her up.

"Let me go, you shithead!" she screamed, trying to squirm herself free.

"Stop it." Alex snapped, holding her tight. "Stop!"

Skyler struggled and growled at him.

"This isn't you, Skyler. You're letting yourself get weak to that shit..."

"I want to be weak!" she barked.

"No, you don't!" Alex yelled back. "The Skyler I know isn't weak. She's stubborn and hard headed, but not weak. Weak wouldn't have been able to deflect me and ignore me like you did." he swallowed. "have." he corrected himself.

Skyler looked up at Alex, her face was stone hard and tears still falling from her eyes. Her front fell away quickly as he brushed her tears away.

"I told you, I'd take care of you." He whispered as Skyler buried her face in his chest. "And I will."


End file.
